Chicken Biryani

I’ve been stalking Fork Spoon Knife for a while—a gorgeous food blog authored by Asha which is full of beautiful food photography and excellent recipes. Hailed from India and currently resides in New York City, Asha is pampered by two generations of talented cooks in the family. As such, Asha has a discerning palate and love to cook and entertain friends and family. Please welcome Fork Spoon Knife with her South Indian Chicken Biryani recipe, one of the most requested Indian recipes on Rasa Malaysia. Enjoy!

Biryani is typically a special occasion dish, for many reasons. This dish is particularly known for its many layers of flavors that slowly develop and meld together. So, it’s a multi step process that requires much love in many installments over a long cooking time. Also, those flavors and the aromas from the dish come from a blend of spices that are typically not used in everyday cooking and are pricier, hence adding to the special feel…

The concept of the Biryani came from Persians. When the Mughals conquered Northern India, they introduced much of their cuisine to the populace. As their rule spread further South, most Indian were exposed to the delicacy and it took a firm place in every Indian’s heart. And, then, every region of the country adopted the dish as its own and lent a distintive flavor and taste to it by modifying the ingredients as also the method based on the indigenous cuisine.

Over time, a distintive difference developed between the Biryani as it is served in North India (that is only a slightly modified version of the Persian original) and that in the South, especially, Keral and Tamil Nadu, which, has been significantly modified to suit the Southern Palate. Particularly, in the South, the meat is cooked in a coconut infused curry and the rice and curry are mixed rather than layered, as is typical with the Persian version.

The good thing about the Biryani is that the components can be made ahead and it tastes even better the next day as the flavors have more time to develop.

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Store the ghee in an air tight container in a dry location. Ghee does not need to be stored in the refrigerator and can last for about a month.
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Be careful not to rush this because butter can burn very easily and the more patient you are the better the results will be.

Get regular butter 1kg, cook in pot on medium heat till it liquifies and becomes glassy, reduce heat and add 100ml cold water, this helps make ghee separation easy. Some debris forms at bottom, you may filter this out, and allow to cool. this will cool down as ghee! 15-20 mins perp time.
PS. DO NOT USE HIGH HEAT

Let the butter melt and come to a boil. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Once the butter comes to a boil reduce the heat as so you do not burning it.

The butter will form a white foam on top which will disappear. Keep the heat going and a second foam will appear and the butter will be golden brown, that is when ghee will be done. This process should take about 7-8 minutes.

Brown milk solids will be on the bottom of the sauce pan. Finally just poor the ghee into a heat proof container using a mesh strainer or cheese cloth to catch the milk solids

This looks so delicious. I just saw the briyani recipe from mylittlespace and now here. It’s a sign, I think I need to make briyani to satisfy my craving soon. I’m drooling….great looking photo and recipe.

Looks so scrumptuous!My Irish husband loves Indian food and this recipe will go very well with him and friends as we entertain a lot.Can I substitute ghee with something else?I dont think I can get ghee easily in the Middle East.

(Meanwhile, prepare the rice. Roast the whole spices in ghee and the saute the onions in the same.)can you explain this part to me? roast the whole spices in ghee and the saute the onions in the same what??? pan or roasting pan??

I’ve made this twice now. The first time I followed the recipe as stated, except I reduced the mint to about half of what it called for, as it just seemed like way too much. It still ended up tasting of nothing but mint.

The second time (today), I left out the mint entirely, and it’s delicious! I also just used butter instead of ghee (too lazy to make ghee today).

I made this dish yesterday and it turned out beautifully like many of your recipes :) I was wondering, if I wanted to increase the heat of this dish (spiciness), what would you recommend I add to the recipe?

This looks delicious :) i like also the mouthwatering pictures you provided, it looks great. Another thing, the way you explain the procedures are shown in well-mannered way and easy to follow. so thank for sharing it. :) it is every useful